These exercises can help you stay active without breaking too much of a sweat
As our bodies get older, the aches and pains come a lot easier, but it doesn't have to be that way. Some key exercises can help your joints and keep you moving.
Fitness pro Alex Isaly explains why many of us have pain in our hips, lower back and knees in the first place.
"We spend a lot of time hunched over in a seated position," Isaly, a certified trainer, said. "We start losing mobility in our shoulders, in our spine and our hips area, and it creates a lot of discomfort and we don't move as fluently."
He says now more than ever, we could use some movement to give all of our joints mobility and increase circulation.
The American Council on Exercise offers key movement exercises to hit multi-joints at once.
One exercise is the single leg down dog to a plank knee touch.
To execute the exercise, Isaly says to lift one of your feet off the floor and really open up that hip, and come back and bring that knee underneath your body. That helps to strengthen shoulders and core while opening hips.
You can also try a glute bridge with overhead diagonal reach.
To do this exercise, Isaly says to "bridge up," and reach your hand back behind your head, feeling the extension on the one side.
Most women know about fire hydrant leg lifts, but doing them with the opposite hand slightly lifted off the ground increases work for the core.
Then try a roll-up with one leg straight and one bent, with arms above the body, sitting up to the tallest posture possible, then try rolling slowly back down, one vertebrae at a time.
Another exercise to try is aptly named "threading the thoracic needle," as it works to stretch upper back and shoulders while mobilizing the hips.
Finally, get your whole body moving with a squat with arms in the letter "v" position.
These exercises can be done just about anywhere they take about ten minutes to do and they don't get you sweaty. It's a wonderful way to wake up those joints in the morning also a good way to end the day.
